School buses to be on Grey-Bruce roads to start school year

School buses will be running in Grey-Bruce when the school year begins.

The local school boards announced late Thursday afternoon that an agreement in principle had been reached between themselves and bus operators. School transportation will proceed as normal for the start of the school year in September, the boards said in a statement.

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School Bus Ontario, the association that represents school bus operators in the province, had given a deadline of Friday for an agreement to be reached, or buses would not be on the road for the first day of school.

The statement the Bluewater District School Board and Bruce-Grey Catholic District School Board sent to families said they recognize the uncertainty the situation may have caused, and they appreciated the continued patience of families.

Families are being asked to complete all standard back-to-school transportation steps, including logging in to Edulog. The most important step is to opt in to transportation for each child. Students will not be assigned to a bus route unless this step is completed, the statement said. Further details are available at www.bwdsb.on.ca/families_community/transportation

“We look forward to a great start to the school year and thank our bus operators, staff, and families for working through this together,” the board statement read.

In Grey-Bruce, six school bus operators had been without a contract after their previous agreements with the province expired in June. The Student Transportation Service Consortium of Grey Bruce contracts approximately 308 school bus routes that transport more than 16,000 students in the region, according to School Bus Ontario.

In their statement, the boards said that along with Shared School Services and in close cooperation with the Ministry of Education, they had been negotiating for several months with the local bus operators to reach a renewed transportation agreement.

“Throughout this process, we worked to balance the cost pressures facing operators with our responsibility to manage public funds responsibly,” the board statement reads.

Further details about the agreement in principle reached were not provided, and attempts to reach School Bus Ontario were not immediately successful on Thursday.

School Bus Ontario Executive Director Nancy Daigneault said earlier this week that school bus operators have worked hard to recruit and retain drivers during one of the most challenging labour markets the industry has experienced.

In Grey-Bruce, the association says local operators have increased driver wages by 25 to 30 per cent over the life of the current contracts, which is well above the provincial increase of 17.5 per cent.

“Operators have absorbed those additional costs because getting qualified drivers behind the wheel is essential to safely transporting students,” Daigneault said.

Bus operators face other financial pressures as well, including rising replacement part costs, with a school bus now costing $185,000, which is $75,000 higher than a bus cost prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The operators also require contract terms longer than three years to secure financing for new buses, which often have lead times of up to 12 months, the association said.

Labour markets, geography, fuel costs and local service requirements vary significantly by region, it added.